May 1, 2023
Having probed the ethics of fiction writing in Last Resort, Lipstein turns to another industry known for its occasionally elastic principles—high finance—in this engrossing portrait of a hedge fund manager. Narrator Herschel Caine is trying to establish a quantitative fund with the potential to “upend the very definitions of public stocks, investing, money itself.” To do so, he needs a large commitment from an investor whose shady representative wants access to the firm’s proprietary algorithm and is willing to deploy increasingly aggressive means to obtain it. Before the deal is resolved, domestic trouble ensues when Herschel and his wife, Franny, host their neighbors the Guggenheims for dinner but, the boisterous behavior of another guest threatens to spoil the evening. Herschel devises an underhanded solution to save the party, which leads to a serious accident. Against a Succession-level aftermath of corporate skullduggery and personal guilt, Herschel has a moral crisis; he grows horrified by the vast power of his firm’s algorithm, argues that art should have a social purpose, and becomes a vegan. As his worldview changes, language becomes alien to him: “Words and logic could not help me describe myself.” Though the denouement is a little rushed, there’s genuine suspense in Lipstein’s meaty novel of ideas. This is well worth the investment.